NASHVILLE – The Titans face the Washington Commanders on Sunday at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland.

Here’s a look at six things to keep in mind when competing:

While the temperature has dropped, Titans quarterback Will Levis is fired up. In his three starts since returning from a right shoulder injury, Levis has thrown for 748 yards with five touchdowns, two interceptions and a 109.3 passer rating. As of Week 10, the passer rating of 109.3 ranks fifth among all NFL quarterbacks. He is coming off a game in which he threw for 275 yards with two touchdowns and a rating of 123.3. The Titans need Levis to stay hot against the Commanders.

I don’t know what to make of this stat: Levis is the first quarterback since the 1970 merger to have a 105+ rating in a three-game span in which he was sacked 20 times. Levis is the second player in franchise history to be sacked more than 20 times in three games since 1970 (the other was Warren Moon in 1985). This much is pretty clear, though: The Titans need to protect the QB better and prevent Levis from getting hit as often. Levis can of course help here too by getting the ball out.

After a 7-2 start, the Commanders have lost three games in a row. Quarterback Jayden Daniels posted a passer rating of 106.7 with 9 touchdowns and 2 interceptions during the fast start, but in the last three games the rating was just 77.7 with 3 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The Titans need to pressure Daniels and not put him in trouble again because he is a dangerous offensive weapon with running and passing talent. Despite his recent struggles, Daniels has a completion percentage of 68.4, which is the highest completion percentage for a rookie in NFL history. Daniels also leads the Commanders with 556 rushing yards.

Tony Pollard was a workhorse and tone setter for the Titans. The veteran running back leads the Titans with 800 rushing yards and four touchdowns and is coming off a game in which he rushed for 119 yards and scored on 24 carries. The Titans need to be able to continue running the ball successfully to protect Levis and the line. Pollard is just 22 yards shy of 1,000 scrimmage yards this season. Since moving to Tennessee, the Titans’ only two running backs have recorded 1,000 scrimmage yards in their first two seasons with the team: Chris Johnson (2008) and DeMarco Murray (2016). The Commanders haven’t been very good against the run this season, allowing 145.5 yards per game, a total of 29^Th in the NFL and 4.82 yards per carry, or 28^Th in the NFL.

Can the Titans stop the mistakes?

The Titans lost on some Sundays because of their mistakes. Some weeks they made mistakes and survived them. In eight starts this season, Levis had nine interceptions. He is expected to play flawlessly. The Titans were penalized 8.0 times per game in 2024 (2nd).^nd(most of them in the NFL), and some of them were costly. Special teams’ mistakes are well-documented, so I hardly need to remind them again (but I guess I’ll do it anyway). I think everyone would like to see what things would look like if the Titans played a clean game. Could this be the week?

The Titans, as coach Brian Callahan said this week, aren’t dead yet. But at 3-8, their playoff hopes are barely shaky right now. On Sunday they are 5 ½ point outsiders against the Commanders. Since 1990, teams seeded 4-8 have made the playoffs 1.7% of the time (2/119), won the division 1.7% of the time (2/119), but have never won a Super Bowl (0 /119). None of the 98 teams that started with a 3-9 record ever made the playoffs. The Titans need to find a way to win this game before playing four of their last five games against AFC South opponents. Also, it would be nice to win two games in a row (for the first time since October 2022).